No matter how much the NFL tries to make the game safer, they’re always going to be risks involved. Although the league protects it star players, that doesn’t always carry over to the defensive side of the ball.

Dolphins defensive end Cameron Wake knows if he hits Patriots quarterback Tom Brady late on a play, it will be a 15-yard penalty. But if an offensive player hits him late, the referees may not throw a flag.

“But I also feel like as a defender, I’m trying to give myself as big of an advantage as possible without trying to hurt myself, because we’re rarely defenseless as a defender,” Wake said to reporters on Saturday. “I mean my knees aren’t valuable to the NFL. They can cut me, they can do everything; but if I brush a quarterback, I get fined. So it’s like there’s so many different levels. One player after the play, he’s suspended. Another player doing a football move, he’s … There’s so much doing on that we have not touched on and that needs to fixed and addressed that I think you’d be here for a 45 minute.”

Player safety has been a hot topic of discussion this week in light of the Ryan Shazier spinal injury against the Bengals on Monday night. During the same game, Steelers receiver Juju Smith-Schuster knocked out Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict and Smith-Schuster was ultimately suspended one game by the NFL for it.

Wake said he and other NFL players can only go at one speed when they’re out on the field.

“I wouldn’t be able to do that unless the offensive players are doing the same thing, because if I say I was going to have to slow down or adjust to protect myself to not hurt tackling this player, meanwhile he’s saying I’m going to do everything I can to completely annihilate you when I have the ball in my arms, it has to be … If it’s not mutual, if I’m going 20 miles an hour and you’re going 15, I’m going to win,” Wake said. “Now you’re like, well now you’ve got to go 30. Well, then I’ve got to go 45. And we’re going to go until we’re I’m maxed out, and you’re going to max out, and we’re going to have a tremendous collision. Where’s the line? Are you going to tell all the running backs, listen you’ve all got to slow down a little bit? Receivers? But I also feel like as a defender, I’m trying to give myself as big of an advantage as possible without trying to hurt myself, because we’re rarely defenseless as a defender.”

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